University and careers options

The vast majority of St. Clare's graduates go to university as the next step in their career. Our students are welcomed by institutions all over the world, and during their two years at St. Clare's they are well prepared for and guided through decisions and applications.

Most students start university immediately while a small proportion choose to develop their personal skills and interests by taking a ‘gap year' in which to travel, work or volunteer and thus improve their career prospects prior to continuing in education.

Students applied far and wide and have been successful in taking places at prestigious universities around the world. This has been a year of excellent results which has ensured success for our students, particularly at a time when competition is strong: those going to universities in the US are the most successful group of applicants from St. Clare's in the last decade based on the average rank and acceptance rate of the institutions they are going to. 83% of students applying to UK universities have been successful in achieving their ‘first choice', which is higher than usual.

Summary of destinations for 2011 graduates:

No. of students
UK universities (see below for details of top universities)
63
US universities and Liberal Arts colleges (see below)
7
European universities and colleges:
including Bocconi (Italy), Zeppelin (Germany), Maastricht (Netherlands), IE (Spain), Poznan (Poland) and Glion (Switzerland)
14
Asian university: in Japan
1
Australia: Macquarie University
1
Art foundation: including Oxford Brookes, Parson's Paris
3
Gap year (most placed in universities)
10
Employment or national service
1
Undecided
3

US and UK university league tables

For 2011, 39 St. Clare's graduates (including those who took a gap year from 2010) have been placed in the top 20 UK universities (as ranked by The Times Higher Education Supplement) with 28 in the top 10 (see below). Those placed in the US top 50 universities include New York University and Brandeis University which are ranked 33 and 34 according to the standard ranking list by U.S. and News Report, and one will attend a specialist art college. Rankings represent an average of each university's provision, for example, in teaching, research, entry standards, staff-student ratio, degrees awarded, job prospects, resources, retention rates and spending per student.

Students placed in the top 10 US and UK universities are as follows:

No. of students

US universities

 
MIT
1
University of Pennsylvania
2
Johns Hopkins University
1

UK universities

 
Oxford University
1
Cambridge University
2
Imperial College London
3
London School of Economics
1
Durham University
2
University College London
8
University of Warwick
3
York University
3
King's College London
5
The choice of degree subjects includes medicine, law, engineering, human sciences, natural sciences, chemistry, physics, history/politics, economics, business studies, hospitality, anthropology, modern languages, psychology, international relations, film studies and liberal arts.

We pride ourselves on helping students to make well informed choices and applications for their future. Our careers and higher education programme provides a strong foundation for future study, work and life. Students comment on its value many years after they have left St. Clare's.

Further detailed information is available from our Careers and Higher Education Adviser, Liz Reece (liz.reece@stclares.ac.uk) and for United States Universities and Colleges, Paul Sinclair (paul.sinclair@stclares.ac.uk).

IB student photo
IB student photo
IB student photo
IB student photo